You must take both the first and (if necessary) second retake exam after January 13, 2010 and before June 30, 2010 to be eligible for this offer, which is available worldwide except in India and China. To obtain a Second Shot voucher, you must register and obtain a voucher code before registering for your test through Prometric. Note that only one Second Shot voucher is available per purchased exam.

For more information, check out Microsoft’s  Professional Career Portal or the Microsoft Student Career Portal (for student priced exams. Students are eligible for 55% off selected exams).

Microsoft is currently offering a promotion where you can save 15 to 20 percent off select Technology Specialist exams and 25 percent off select Microsoft Certified Professional exams.

To be eligible for this special offer, you must register with Prometric and obtain a discount code.

Register for your discounted voucher code (Prometric.com)

This offer is available worldwide and customers must register, schedule, and purchase their discounted exams by December 31, 2009. This offer does not include the popular second chance retake option. The discount does not apply to academic priced exams.

For further details and a complete list of eligible exams, go to Microsoft’s web site:

Career Campaign: Certification Exam Offer

Milestones:

• More than 350 of MCMs have been earned by IT pros from over 20 countries and 30 companies
• In its first year, the net satisfaction of the training, rated by attendees, averaged 179 on a scale of 200
• The program has expanded to include MCM for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
• Microsoft will introduce MCM programs for Exchange Server 2010 and Office SharePoint Server 2010 in early 2010

New Offers:

• Windows Server 2008 R2 offers 11 days of training that culminate in two written exams and one 8-hour long lab-based test. Content focuses on core directory services that builds off of pre-reading and prerequisites that maximize classroom time.  For those who’ve earned their MCM on a previous product version, options exist for ensuring they are up-to-speed on new versions.  Register before January 1, 2010 for a $1,000 discount.  
• Microsoft is offering a 20% discount for all other MCM programs until January 1, 2010.  More information is available here.

The Microsoft Certified Masters program is definitely at a different level than the MCTS and MCITP. It is also very expensive. However, for those that need the advanced skill level that this program offers, it is well worth it. From Microsoft’s web site, the latest numbers worldwide for MCMs are:

Source: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/cert-overview.aspx#tab5

Of the 149 teams advancing to the worldwide competition, 10 percent attend schools that are members of the Microsoft IT Academy program that enables academic institutions including colleges, universities and primary and secondary schools to purchase the latest software tools and Microsoft curriculum at affordable prices.

This year, Microsoft Learning extended several of IT Academy program tools to registered participants in the Imagine Cup 2009 competition.  Students responded with enthusiasm, with more than 3,500 tapping Learning Plans to help them meet their goals, more than 9,500 students logged almost 2,000 hours using e-reference libraries from Microsoft Press to dive deeply into the technologies in play. 

Winners of the U.S. Imagine Cup Finals (from left to right) Mark, Jimmy and, Luke Dickinson. Team Name: MultiPointWeb

For an article about students and faculty participants from this year’s competition, check out “Microsoft Gives Students the Tools to Build Skills and Make a Difference.” It provides insight into how the Microsoft ITA program is helping students develop skills that not only enable them to compete at a global level, but also compete in the real world of work.

You can follow the Imagine Cup on:

First of all, what is a Microsoft Certified Application Specialist certification test. An MCAS test will test you on Microsoft Office applications or on Windows Vista. It is certification for the office worker. There are tests available for:

• Word 2007
• Excel 2007
• PowerPoint 2007
• Outlook 2007
• Access 2007
• Windows Vista

MCAS tests are administered by Certiport, not Prometric. Registration for the test is completely online. In order to take a test, you must first purchase a voucher to take the test. That voucher is good for any of the tests for Vista or Office 2007. You must purchase a different voucher if you want to test on previous versions of Office. At this time, each test voucher costs $89.

Note that at this point, all we have done is purchase a voucher. We still have not scheduled the test. To schedule the test, you must call the testing center directly. To find a testing center, go to http://www.certiport.com/Portal/Pages/LocatorView.aspx. Make sure that when you call the testing center that you specify that you are taking a Certiport test. This is because some Certiport testing centers are also Prometric and/or VUE testing centers which expect you to call the vendor to schedule a test. The testing center may charge you a proctoring fee to take the test. This fee will vary from center to center and is in addition to the test voucher fee.

My test consisted of 26 mini tests where I was given one or two tasks to do. The time allowed for the entire exam was 59 minutes. To get a feel for how a test looks, go to this web page: Test Demo The sample tests use Adobe Shockwave. The actual test uses a live version of the application that you are being tested on. (note: the only exception is the Vista test). Even though the sample tests are for Word 2002 and Excel 2002, the test format is still the same. The top portion of the window is a live version of the application, while the bottom portion shows the tasks that you must accomplish.

During the actual test you can skip a section. That section will be presented to you again after you have gone through all of the sections once, if you have remaining time. Unlike the Microsoft IT Professional tests available through Prometric, you cannot go back to a previous question once you click on the next button. My tip is if you get stuck on a section, skip it and go on to the next section. That way if you have time, you can try it again. Tasks are marked as correct if you have achieved the end result of the objective. For example, if the objective was to bold some text, it would not matter how you went about bolding the text. One test candidate may have made the text bold by right-clicking on the selected text. Another test candidate may have selected the text and pressed CTRL-B. Both test candidates would have the objective marked correct. The test would just check that after you hit the next button, the requested text was bold.

For help in studying for the MCAS certification, I highly recommend The Microsoft Certified Application Specialist Study Guide. This book is a study guide for every MCAS test except for Windows Vista. I found this book valuable because it highlighted the features of the program that are tested, but I do not use on a regular basis. If you need a book that will teach you the programs beyond just the test objectives, I highly recommend the Microsoft Press Step by Step series. For MCAS Applications, the books are:

• Microsoft® Office Word 2007 Step by Step
• Microsoft® Office Excel® 2007 Step by Step
• Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® 2007 Step by Step
• Microsoft® Office Outlook® 2007 Step by Step
• Microsoft® Office Access(TM) 2007 Step by Step
• Microsoft Windows Vista Step by Step

You can become a Microsoft Office 2007 Master by passing the tests for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

For more information on the Microsoft Certified Application Specialist, please check the following links:

Microsoft Business Certification (Microsoft.com)

Microsoft Certified Application Specialist (Certiport.com)

Microsoft Office 2007 Master (Certiport.com)

As I searched the web for articles on the service pack, one thing became clear. Microsoft had been struggling with a release date for this service pack. Noted Microsoft watcher, Mary-Jo Foley, wondered  in her blog why, as of  May 21, had Microsoft not publicly released the service pack. Microsoft had released SP2 to manufacturing on April 28. In the Microsoft Update Product Team blog, it was announced on May 20 that the update would be available “in the coming weeks.” The service pack was also released to TechNet and MSDN subscribers.

System Administrators need to be aware of this update. If they do not want to deploy SP2 at this time, they will need to use the Windows Service Pack Blocker Tool Kit to prevent their users from installing it.

For more information about Service Pack 2 for Vista and Windows Server 2008, Check out this page on TechNet:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dd262148.aspx

For a summary of notable changes in service pack 2, see this link:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd335036.aspx

I really enjoy the Microsoft Press Step by Step series. The series is a great way for an IT Professional to get a simple beginner’s introduction to a Microsoft technology without being called a dummy. The Step by Step series can be very helpful for learning how to do something that may be new to or outside your regular work responsibilities. And during this difficult economic time, adding to your current skill set is a very good thing.

I also think that this is a great title to review since Microsoft announced earlier this year that SharePoint Designer would be available for free.

The book contains twelve chapters and 336 pages and is intended to be a starting point for learning how to build a solution on SharePoint. The solutions presented in the book could be deployed on a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) or on a basic Windows SharePoint Server (WSS) installation. As a prerequisite, the author recommends that you have read Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Designer 2007 Step by Step by Penelope Coventry (Microsoft Press 2008) so that you have a basic knowledge of how SharePoint Designer works. However, if you are familiar with the Microsoft Office interface, you may be able to work the exercises in the book. The book includes a companion CD with practice files, an ebook of the title, an ebook of the Microsoft Computer Dictionary 5th edition, and the Windows Vista Product Guide.

One of the first features I noticed this time was the Chapter at a Glance feature which gives a visual overview of the chapter’s content. I liked how the pictures were screenshots of the actual software being used to illustrate the topic being covered. Page numbers are right next to the picture so that if a certain picture got your attention, you could turn to that page to get more details. This is really a terrific feature.

Chapters included looks at Master Pages and data views. I was especially interested in the chapters on Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) which control the format of the web pages, and the chapter on workflow. One of the powerful features of SharePoint is the Workflow Foundation which allows you to automate document routing. Again, the step by step book format simplifies the steps that you need to take to create a sample workflow and learn the basics of this powerful feature of SharePoint.

As a side note, in his introduction, Jansen gives us a look into Microsoft’s web tools product development. Microsoft has three web development applications and it can sometimes be confusing choosing which one to use. If you have ever used FrontPage, you will notice that SharePoint Designer looks a lot like FrontPage. That is because FrontPage became SharePoint Designer. The same development team also created Microsoft Expression Web and Web Express in Microsoft Visual Studio. Jansen explains that the main difference between SharePoint Designer and Expression is that SharePoint Designer can work with content specific to SharePoint and Expression cannot. To illustrate the different audience that each product is aimed at, Jansen provides this scenario. A developer creates a layout with with server controls on it. He hands the layout to an Expression web designer who creates the look of the page. The Expression web designer hands the page to the SharePoint Designer application builder to post to SharePoint.

This book is ideal for anyone that is interested in enhancing SharePoint web sites. Not only is the book good for developers who are just starting out enhancing SharePoint sites, but it is also good for the IT Professional Generalist who wants to understand more about how SharePoint sites are built and how to make simple enhancements.

Contents

1. Working with Web Applications
2. Working with SharePoint Sites in SharePoint Designer
3. Accessing the Styles Behind SharePoint Pages
4. Creating Layout with Cascading Style Sheets
5. Working with Master Pages
6. Creating Custom Navigation Controls
7. Creating Data Sources in SharePoint
8. Creating Data Views
9. Using ASP.NET and SharePoint Controls in Data Views
10. Using Parameters in a Data View
11. Customizing List Forms and Pages
12. Using the Windows Workflow Foundation

At a glance: Title: Building Web Applications with Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Designer 2007 Step by Step Author: John Jansen  Publisher: Microsoft Press, February 18, 2009 ISBN-10: 0735626324 336 pages

You can follow the bus on the Born to Learn blog, Facebook or Twitter  (http://twitter.com/MSLearning).  If you’re interested in Twitter meet-ups, be sure to watch for the hashtag #tweetup. 

For IT pros that have not taken a certification exam since January 1, 2007, Microsoft and Prometric are providing a limited offer to the first 4,000 individuals to help them gain their Microsoft Certified Professional status in the MCTS/MCPD/MCITP tracks.  You can find more information and register at www.prometric.com/microsoft.  The offer is available for customers who have taken their last certification exam prior to January 1, 2007.

So, come on back. Get certified again!

Microsoft Skills Week events will include the following skills development and career assistance programs as part of its offerings:

•Access to Career Assist. An offering through Microsoft Learning’s Second Shot Program. Second Shot gives individuals the opportunity to retake a Microsoft Certified Professional exam for free should they fail. The Career Assist Package gives individuals who register for Second Shot by June 30 the opportunity to purchase a Microsoft E-Learning Collection for $35 (U.S.) — a 90 percent price discount in most cases. The online programs provide specific tools to help users develop technical skills and prepare for Microsoft Certified Professional exams. The discounted collection purchased with the Career Assist Package will be available for 90 days after activation.

•Exam Crams. Quick study sessions to prepare individuals for Microsoft Certification exams.

•Live Meetings. Sessions with Microsoft technical specialists and legendary Microsoft Certified Trainers who will demonstrate technologies to enhance training and answer questions to enable individuals to prepare for examinations.

•Exam discounts. Opportunities to get certified on-site at events while saving up to 40 percent on exam fees.

More information on Microsoft Skills Week and local events is available at http://www.certificationweek.com.

(Info taken from Microsoft Press Release: http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2009/mar09/03-09SkillsWeek09PR.mspx)